Not necessarily islands. Plenty of contiguous large ranch areas still. Mostly South of I-10, Anahuac to the Sabine River. But plenty of others also.
There were plenty of droughts and cold spells prior to 1980.

But prior to the 80s they were connected to other populations. I would be very surprised if there is hundreds of thousands of acres there still entirely in native grasses etc. and there probably are still some birds there on those ranches but they're just not on the small tracts etc

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Like every other thing, it is undoubtedly a combination of multiple factors and I bet every single one mentioned on this thread plays a pretty noticieable and measurable role.

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The thing that concerns me the most according to this podcast-- on pristine habitat where the parasite is present quail are vanishing. Not because of development, habitat fragmentation, hogs, coons, hawks etc. It is because of the parasite as evidenced by the experiment run with controls.
Pristine habitat=native grasslands on ranches with tens of thousands of acres.

If you can't keep quail numbers up on the best habitat on earth for them because of the parasite, the threat should not be minimized.

The eye worms are not a big problem in South Texas quail, according to a study done by the East Foundation. Biggest problem, according to them, is rainfall and habitat change.

https://eastfoundation.net/media/management-bulletins/2023/management-bulletin-no-9-south-texas-bobwhites-and-eyeworms-regional-history-prevalence-and-implications-for-management/

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The eye worms are not a big problem in South Texas quail, according to a study done by the East Foundation. Biggest problem, according to them, is rainfall and habitat change.

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That's a great read & thanks for the link. Makes me feel a lot better knowing that quail in some areas don't seem to have the eye worm infestation. It's not as widespread as the Dr. on the podcast made it out to be... possibly because he's pushing his product & his son's products (feeding cages, calls, etc.)

Meateater crew did not ask easy questions that could have addressed the distribution of the worms.

Now just need to figure out how to re-establish quail in areas where they have been wiped out.
Transplanting wild coveys... is that a thing?

Yes. Same group who funded the eye worm research funded a translocation program in East Texas that he referenced on the national forest lands.

Had to implement a burn program and do a ton of work but it's working. TBD if you can actually restore a whole population that way or not

Dale Rollins posts alot on Facebook about the eye worms. They are doing research on this at their place out by Abilene.

I have hunted quail for over fifty years. I've owned over twenty bird dogs and I have hunted from the panhandle to the Mexico border. The populations have decreased significantly but there are still huntable numbers on well managed ranches. I have a friend who owns 1800 acres near Brady. He manages it intensively for quail. He has over sixty feeders out and feeds year round.
One thing he does that I feel makes a big difference - he traps varmints year round. Coons and skunks raid quail nests and he is keeping the varmint numbers low.
In two days last year we shot over forty birds and the dogs pointed over ten coveys each day.
Quail have lots of challenges but they are resilient. It takes a lot of effort, but good management can still produce huntable numbers of birds. Timely rainfall helps a lot.
I still say that hunting quail behind good dogs is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.