To learn about the potential for bottom-up forest management change, this study examined how trust in the forest sector, i.e., internal trust, and trust in the news media, reflecting trust in an external source, are associated with private forest owners' acceptance of alternative management (i.e., practices used by a minority of owners). Measures of acceptance included beliefs reflecting the extent to which more and less production oriented alternative forestry practices align with the owners' management goals and intention to engage in collaborative forest planning for ecological and social values. A survey of a random sample of forest owners in Sweden (n = 1763) revealed that close-to-nature practices (e.g., no clear-cuts) were believed to be more aligned with management goals than intensive forestry practices (e.g., fertilization). Yet around 25% of the owners believed that the close-to-nature practices were neither aligned nor non-aligned with their goals, and the share of owners being unsure was 20% or higher for the individual practices. Linear regression models revealed that trust was significantly related to acceptance of alternative management strategies when controlling for covariates. Whereas internal trust was positively associated with intensive forestry beliefs, news media trust was positively associated with both intensive forestry beliefs and close-to-nature beliefs. Moreover, higher news media trust in combination with lower internal trust was associated with stronger close-to-nature beliefs and intention to engage in collaborative planning. The study confirms interactions between different forms of trust and highlights the importance of external trust to reinforce diverse alternative management.