A well-known Grand County forester was killed when a tree fell on him on Shadow Mountain.
Kevin Pellini, 43, of Granby was found by motorists outside his vehicle under a lodgepole pine Friday about 4 p.m., according to the Grand County coroner’s office. Officials are not sure when he died.
Pellini, the owner of Goldrun Forestry in Granby and a former maintenance supervisor in Rocky Mountain National Park, was not actively cutting trees at the time, said Coroner Brenda Bock. The large tree along the Jericho Road pulled itself up by its roots when it toppled, she said. Pellini specialized in cutting “hazard trees,” according to his website.
Besides his work building trails in Grand County, he had cut thousands of pine beetle-infested trees in the region.
It had not been determined Monday whether pine beetles brought down the tree that killed him, Bock said.
“Lodgepole pines have notoriously shallow roots, I’m told,” she said. “The tree was probably infested, but it’s not clear that that’s what brought it down.”
