It is difficult for me to tell you for sure what is affecting the tree, I can only provide guesses. Regarding fall planting or trees, here is an excerpt from our PlantTalk sheet on fall planting: “As a general rule, evergreens are more at risk when planted in the fall because their needles are exposed to the elements in the fall and winter.”   The cause of the dead needles could  be dryness, freeze damage and/or winter injury.   Winter injury is usually caused by the drying winds, up and down temperatures, and low soil moisture that are typical of Colorado's fall and winter seasons.

We are seeing evergreens all along the Front Range that have browned since the November freeze. The warm weather we had in October and November slowed many plants' entry into dormancy. Going from 60s below zero in a 24 hour period gave the plants no time to prepare and many trees and shrubs were damaged.

We recommend reducing winter stress on trees by watering monthly in the root area.  Here is a fact sheet on winter watering:http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07211.html

We will have to wait and see how shrubs and trees are in the spring. 

Here is a great blog posting of what happened regarding the cold weather in November, please see the December 22 post on this blog: http://www.csuhort.blogspot.com/

Here are more fact sheets on evergreen care: 

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2114.html

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1707.html