diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StashApplyCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StashApplyCommand.java
index 4d54e0be9..5d0ac2f2d 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StashApplyCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/StashApplyCommand.java
@@ -329,9 +329,8 @@ public class StashApplyCommand extends GitCommand<ObjectId> {
 
 	private void resetUntracked(RevTree tree) throws CheckoutConflictException,
 			IOException {
-		TreeWalk walk = null;
+		TreeWalk walk = new TreeWalk(repo); // maybe NameConflictTreeWalk;
 		try {
-			walk = new TreeWalk(repo); // maybe NameConflictTreeWalk?
 			walk.addTree(tree);
 			walk.addTree(new FileTreeIterator(repo));
 			walk.setRecursive(true);
@@ -362,8 +361,7 @@ public class StashApplyCommand extends GitCommand<ObjectId> {
 				checkoutPath(entry, reader);
 			}
 		} finally {
-			if (walk != null)
-				walk.release();
+			walk.release();
 		}
 	}