The Riverina has already seen a successful effort to relocate koalas and establish a stable colony of about 200 of the much-loved marsupials at Narrandera, which started in 1972.

Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists is one of the groups that helps monitor the colony and its president, Alan Whitehead, said it took the right conditions to host koalas that were healthy and genetically diverse.

"You have to maintain their safety and make it a reserve so you don't let dogs run in there and so forth," he said.

"They need space, you can't just put them in a backyard with a few gum trees.

"You would be dependent on the plans for the area as there is a number of hectares per koala, you need a minimum amount for them ... a generous amount of forest with mature trees."

Mr Whitehead said you needed a minimum number of koalas to relocate from multiple different areas to ensure genetic diversity and prevent inbreeding.

"We started with 12 and they are now in the hundreds. It's one of the most successful relocations programs on the state," he said.

Wagga councillors are due to vote next week on whether to adopt the new 'Biodiversity Strategy: Maldhangilanna'.

One of the confidential submissions on the draft strategy "suggested that council may wish to investigate whether a new population could be established in the Wagga Local Government Area" via relocating koalas.

In response, a project to "investigate opportunities to host a koala relocation project" was added to the strategy, with a plan to use existing or in-kind funding over the next three years.

Charles Sturt University Wagga associate professor in wildlife health and pathology Dr Andrew Peters said establishing a koala colony would not come cheap but could help Wagga's economy as well as the environment.

"Narrandera has got a demonstrated success in having a stable koala population that is made from relocated koalas and it is disease-free as far as we know," he said.

"It's one of the few stable populations in NSW and is largely free from bushfire threat.

"It's a species that people are very interested in and they are quite charismatic and can be beneficial for tourism.

"Establishing a viable population will involve a lot of care and planning for the long term...it is certainly not going to come cheap to do it properly."

In other news

Dr Peters said the council should also consider conservation areas for other species such as the bilby and squirrel glider.

The council contacted the NSW government earlier this year regarding opportunities to re-home koalas in the Wagga area, which the State Environmental Planning Policy lists as a potential habitat.

A recent NSW parliamentary inquiry warned koalas will go extinct in the state by 2050 "without urgent government intervention".