MADISON - Ojibwe tribal leader Chris McGeshick drew applause from tribal visitors Thursday as he addressed state lawmakers and heralded the end of a proposed iron mine in northern Wisconsin.

“When it comes to the Penokee Hills mine, we are not going to see that mine happen,” McGeshick said to an eruption of cheers from visitors in the Assembly gallery.

McGeshick, the chairman of the Sokaogon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, delivered this year’s state of the tribes address to the full Legislature, asking lawmakers to help bring jobs to Indian country while respecting the state’s natural resources and tribal cultures.

The past year has seen plenty of action on American Indian issues, including Gov. Scott Walker’s rejection of the Menominee Tribe’s proposed $800 million casino in Kenosha and a mining company dropping its bid to site an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin near the reservation of another Ojibwe tribe.

The state of the tribes address is given each year by a leader of one of the state’s 11 federally recognized tribes and state lawmakers. The Sokaogon Band of the greater Ojibwe, or Chippewa, nation is based in Mole Lake in northern Wisconsin.

The most emotional moment in the speech came when McGeshick pointed to the decision by Gogebic Taconite last week to close its office in Hurley after concluding that an expanse of wetlands made the prospects of constructing a massive iron ore mine in that region unfeasible. The project ignited the biggest environmental fight in decades, with opponents expressing concerns over the effect the mine would have on the Bad River watershed and Ojibwe band, which lies downstream from the proposed mining site.

To cheers from fellow tribal leaders, McGeshick called on state officials to stop the establishment of that mine and also asked for close monitoring of separate frac sand mining operations in western Wisconsin as well.

In his other statements, McGeshick also called on state lawmakers to promote more substance abuse treatment efforts on reservations and to rethink the state’s policy on Indian mascots among Wisconsin’s public schools.

Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill in December 2013 making it more difficult for the state to force schools to drop their Indian team names and voiding state orders to change the nicknames for Mukwonago High School and two other schools.

Walker’s action rewrote a 2010 law - the first of its kind in the nation - that made it extremely hard for schools to keep their American Indian team names, mascots or logos if they had complaints filed against them.

In a statement, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) thanked McGeshick for the appearance.

“It is necessary that we keep an open line of communication between the tribal government and state government and discuss our mutual goals. Although we may, at times, disagree, we can continue to work together to make a better future for everyone,” Vos said.